Effect of Diatomite Weight Fraction on Morphology, Thermal and Physical Properties of Diatomite Filled High Density Polyethylene Composites

High density polyethylene (HDPE) has been used extensively in many sectors of the industry. The main reason for the frequent use of HDPE is its low cost, easy processing, and high performance. These sectors include household and garden products, packaging etc. In order to reduce the production cost of plastic products and to improve plastic's moldability and stability, one or more minerals are usually filled into the thermoplastics. The minerals commonly used as fillers in plastic molding compounds include calcium carbonate, talc, silica, wollastonite, clay, mica, glass beads, and alumina trihydrate. In this paper, diatomite (DA) filled HDPE composites were prepared with gelimat mixer and hot press molding technique. Thermal properties of the composites were studied by thermogravimetric analysis and dynamic mechanical analysis. The mechanical properties of the composites were determined by using universal testing machine. Morphology of the composites was investigated by scanning electron microscopy. With the addition of DA into HDPE, significant change in tensile and flexural strengths of HDPE was not observed. The loss and storage moduli increased with increasing weight fraction of DA